Home > Fact > Ouch Q&A: Oompa-Loompas Ouch Q&A: Oompa-Loompas by Ouch Team 25th July 2005 Everything you ever wanted to know about the ultimate 'little people'(or people of restricted growth) - the Oompa-Loompas from Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Q: What is an Oompa-Loompa? A: Oompa-Loompas are the 'little people' - characters of restricted growth, if you like - featured in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the classic childrens' book by Roald Dahl. They live and work in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, making all the candy delights: marshmallows that taste of violets, caramels that change colour every ten seconds, and chewing gum that never loses its taste. Q: Why are we talking about them now? A: Because they're back again thanks to the cinema release of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie re-make, directed by Tim Burton. It goes on general release on Friday 29 July across the UK, and stars Johnny Depp. Q: These characters work in the factory, you say? A: Yes.

But no one knows about them. You see, Willy Wonka had this issue. It was well recognised by rival candy companies - like those run by Mr Prodnose and Mr Slugworth - that Wonka made the best sweets in the whole world. So they sent spies in as workers to steal the secrets and improve their own products. Well, when Mr Wonka discovered this, he had no option but to shut the factory down. Everyone was sad at the closure and they were very surprised a few months later when, without warning, the factory started up again. But no workers went in and none ever came out! Who was running the factory now? At the beginning of the story, Charlie's Grandpa Joe explains: "... that is one of the great mysteries of the chocolate-making world. We know only one thing about them. They are very small. The faint shadows that sometimes appear behind the windows, especially late at night when the lights are on, are those of tiny people, people no taller than my knee." Q: So where did they come from? A: They came from Loompaland, of course.

Willy Wonka describes Loompaland as: "Nothing but thick jungles infested by the most dangerous beasts in the world - hornswogglers and snozzwangers and those terrible wicked whangdoodles." Wangdoodles, it seems, would eat 10 Oompa-Loompas for breakfast and then come back for more. So you can kind of see why Wonka described the place as "terrible". Willy offered the Oompa-Loompas a home and, in return, they work for him. "When I went out there, I found the little Oompa-Loompas living in tree houses. They had to live in tree houses to escape from the whangdoodles and the hornswogglers and the snozzwangers. And they were living on green caterpillars, and the caterpillars tasted revolting ..." The Oompa-Loompas loved the cacao bean most of all and, being a chocolate factory, Wonka had loads of these and the deal was struck. Q: Do we know anything else about Oompa-Loompas?

A: Roald Dahl wrote that the male Oompa-Loompas wear deer skins, the females wear leaves, and the children wear nothing at all. We know that they're a happy folk, though possibly with a dark edge. In the book, Wonka explains to one of the golden ticket winners, Violet Beauregarde, that: "They're always laughing! They think everything's a colossal joke!" It seems that Wonka is a little unethical with the little folk and uses them to test new products out on. Butterscotch and Buttergin is their favourite tipple, and they're probably best known for their rather dark rhymes and songs that they sing as each of the golden ticket winners exits the story thanks to their own greedy confectionary-based misadventures. Can you sing: "Oompa Loompa loompety loo?" The original film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), starring Gene Wilder, portrayed them as rather dour looking, a bit orange too - a mysteriously intense and jowelly tribal folk. You pays your money, you takes your choice.

In the new 2005 film, though, the Oompa-Loompas are a bit more space-age, dressed in modern factory wear, with colourful dungarees and slicked-back hair. Q: So who plays the Oompa-Loompas in the new movie? A: There are 165 Oompa-Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Interestingly though, they are all played by just one actor; one man duplicated many times by the magic of cinema and CGI. His name is Deep Roy, and at four foot and four inches he's a real life person of restricted growth. Roy previously worked with director Tim Burton in the movies Big Fish and Planet of the Apes. His debut was as an asassin in The Pink Panther Strikes Again, and he also appeared in Van Helsing. The movie trickery goes one stage further though. The singing voices you hear in the Oompa-Loompa song and the dance routines is not that of Roy. Instead, the vocals are by film soundtrack supremo Danny Elfman, who is perhaps best known for writing the score for The Simpsons cartoon series and the modern cute horror musical animation The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Photos: Images from the new movie courtesy of Warner Bros Pictures. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. The Oompa-Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory NEXT Character Analysis Shmoompa-Loompas. Oops, we mean Oompa-Loompas. The name itself is mysterious, and in fact the Oompa-Loompas are quite the mystery themselves. These little guys and gals don't say much, but they sing, and quite well. In fact, despite the fact that they don't talk a lot, we can be sure they're pretty smart, because their songs are witty, rhyming, and made up on the spot. Impressive stuff. So what do we know about them? Let's see. Of course they're small – even smaller than Charlie. According to our narrator, "they were no larger than medium-sized dolls." (15.30). We also know what they look like: they've got white teeth, rosy-white skin, and long golden-brown hair. Plus they're also from a far-away land (although, then again, so is Veruca). Leaving Loompaland We find out from Mr.

Wonka that the Oompa-Loompas were originally from a place called Loompaland. But they were being attacked by various beasts, and were forced to survive on gross food, even though, "The one food they longed for more than any other was the cacao bean." (16.6). As it turns out, that's exactly what chocolate is made of. So Mr. Wonka, visiting Loompaland, tells the Oompa-Loompas that they can come live at his factory and eat all the cacao beans they want, if they'll agree to work for him. Sold. Poets (Who Totally Know it) Mr. Wonka goes on to tell us: "They're wonderful workers. They all speak English now. They love dancing and music. They are always making up songs. […] I must warn you, though, that they are rather mischievous. They like jokes." (16.10) And that certainly proves true. Each time one of the children is hurt by Mr. Wonka's wacky inventions, the Oompa-Loompas sing a mischievous song.

But those songs often have lessons, too: So please, oh please, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install A lovely bookshelf on the wall. These Oompa-Loompas are wiser than they seem. They know Mike Teavee wouldn't have been shrunk if he had just turned off the TV every once in a while and read a book instead. So while the Oompa-Loompas are mischievous, and are small like children, they also know when to behave. So we can't help but agree when they tell their audience that it "serves [Mike Teavee] right" to have been shrunk by the television. (27.77) Most importantly, they're hard workers. Willy Wonka's chocolate factory just wouldn't be what it is today without the help of the Oompa-Loompas. And therefore our story, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory wouldn't be the awesome story that it is without them, either. The Oompa-Loompas - Roald Dahl Roald Dahl Description "'Of course they're real people,' Mr Wonka answered.

'They're Oompa-Loompas.'" - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory The Oompa-Loompas feature in two of Roald Dahl's stories: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - which has since been adapted for two films, an opera and a stage musical - and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. The Oompa-Loompas are from Loompaland, which Mr Wonka describes as a terrible place. "Nothing but thick jungles infested by the most dangerous beasts in the world - hornswogglers and snozzwangers and those terrible wicked whangdoodles," he tells Charlie Bucket and the other Golden Ticket winners. Loompaland is such a terrible place that when Mr Wonka invited the Ooompa-Loompas to come back to his Chocolate Factory, they leapt at the chance. Now they live and work there, helping Mr Wonka with his experiments and generally keeping his Chocolate Factory going. The Oompa-Loompas enjoy singing and dancing. They're always making up songs. Their favourite food is the cacao bean, the central ingredient in a bar of chocolate, and in the Wonka Factory they have access to as many cacao beans as they could possibly wish for.

In the original book, the Oompa-Loompas are described as "tiny" people with "funny long hair." The iconic visual representation of them having orange skin and green hair comes from the 1971 film adaptation. About Charlie and the Chocolate Factory The 6 Most Secretly Racist Classic Children's Books The 6 Most Secretly Racist Classic Children's Books NFL Reviewing Touchdown Celebration Penalty Rules Every piece of art is a product of the society that created it. You can't watch a romantic comedy from the early '90s without getting a little desensitized to the horrible high-waisted jeans and turtleneck/flannel combo that was deemed attractive at the time. Fortunately, we can shield our children from movies that might otherwise lead them to believe that the cast of Friends had successful film careers. Things get a little trickier when classics of children's literature suddenly let fly with the sort of out-of-the-blue casual racism usually reserved for old Southern men after a few too many drinks. Advertisement Wikipedia It is the classic tale of a spoiled little girl named Mary whose parents die in India and who is sent back to England and put in the care of her emotionally distant sort of an asshole uncle.

As she wanders around her uncle's Castlevania-sized house, she finds a forgotten garden and a small, sickly boy, and with the magical power of flowers and wishes, the sickly boy gets healthier and then her uncle rediscovers the power of love and everyone becomes a better person. karenharveycox "You're OK! Off to the mines you go." The story has been brought to movie and TV screens countless times for a reason. For parents of little girls going through their "I hate everything" stage, it is the perfect piece of propaganda. It seamlessly combines flowers, mansions and everything else that little girls go apeshit for with the exact message that their parents would have taught them if they'd thought of it: If you're nice to your family and go quietly play in the yard, your life will turn into a magical fairy tale. "Yeah, I thought that once. Now I'm a groundskeeper." Oh, and also, black people are the cause of everything that's bad in the world. The Racism: In the book, on the first morning after Mary moves into her uncle's mansion, she is awakened by a straight-talking maidservant named Martha.

It's the sort of character who would be played by a sassy black lady in a modern American movie, but this is England, so Martha is just sassy and poor. She's so sassy, in fact, that she tells her child-boss Mary that she thought she was going to be black because she came from India. Mary of course throws a temper tantrum, exclaims that blacks "are not people," and bursts into tears. karenharveycox And now from racism into a catchy song, just as Disney would do. Of course, this is Mary at her brattiest. Surely, the wise Martha will correct her, and Mary's racism will be just another part of the person she will leave behind as her face becomes less punchable. Nope! Unlike Mark Twain's controversial Huck Finn, where the racially insensitive language is offset by Huck and Jim's tender, buddy cop dynamic, Mary's virulent racism is never corrected by anyone or by anything that happens in the book.

In fact, Martha uses her role as the voice of reason in the situation to blame Mary's awful behavior on the fact that she is from India, where there are "a lot of blacks there instead of respectable white people." karenharveycox "You have to clap your hands three times to make sure they're not hiding in the shadows." Though it's the last time that black people are explicitly referenced, there's also a strong undercurrent of symbolic racism. For instance, Mary can't begin her journey to self-discovery until Martha changes her out of her black clothes and puts on white clothes, while Mary makes the very odd statement that she hates everything black. Again, this statement isn't even addressed. Once she changes into white clothing and no longer has to deal with the "black" Indian servants Martha blames for her poor character, Mary heads out into the mansion and begins her journey of discovery. "Good news, I found a rope! For ... skipping." 5 Wikipedia Sherlock Holmes is one of the most beloved and iconic characters in the history of fiction, and if you are wondering what he is doing in this list, then it's because you are only familiar with him through the countless movies and TV shows and not the original books.

The first Sherlock Holmes mystery, A Study in Scarlet, is about how the Mormons are a secret society who kidnap and murder people. OK, but Mormons still get a pretty rough go of it even today. So what if Holmes is like a crime-solving version of Trey Parker and Matt Stone? That is, until you get him around black people, at which point he becomes the obnoxious asshole who thinks the people who keep throwing drinks in his face just don't get his hilarious racial humor. Getty "This is where we keep the black slaves. I'm kidding! They're Chinese." The Racism: In "The Adventure of the Three Gables," Holmes pursues a former slave named Steve Dixie. When Holmes catches up to Steve, he quickly dismantles him with his trademark analytical inquiry: "I've wanted to meet you for some time," said Holmes. "I won't ask you to sit down, for I don't like the smell of you, but aren't you Steve Dixie, the bruiser?" "That's my name, Masser Holmes, and you'll get put through it for sure if you give me any lip." "It is certainly the last thing you need," said Holmes, staring at our visitor's hideous mouth.

Getty Holmes' mouth was healthily dusted with tobacco resin and crusted cocaine. Boom. So in just three sentences, Holmes has ascertained the witness' name and that he is offended when people are racist dicks to him. Meanwhile, everyone else in the room has learned to never bring Holmes to their local black barbershop. This isn't an isolated incident. In the second Holmes novel, The Sign of the Four, we meet a character named Tonga who is an aborigine from the Andaman Islands. Holmes doesn't even need to smell Tonga to know he doesn't like him, since he's studied up on his people, and therefore knows that " they are naturally hideous , having large, misshapen heads, small fierce eyes and distorted features. Their feet and hands, however, are remarkably small .... They have always been a terror to shipwrecked crews, braining the survivors with their stone-headed clubs, or shooting them with their poisoned arrows.

These massacres are invariably concluded by a cannibal feast." Getty "I deduced this from the dirty look I got from their women when I insisted I was their God now." You'd think that a man so well-read and living in the world's largest and most diverse city up to that point in history would have realized that not everyone can be as handsome and kind to foreigners as the (chinless and genocidal) British. The strangest part is that decades before, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a story titled "The Adventure of the Yellow Face." Now with a title like that, you would think you need to brace for the worst, but it's actually about a black woman in love with a white man, an inconceivably progressive idea at the time. In addition to a dim-witted narrator, it would appear that erratic racism was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's favorite device for keeping readers off balance. thehistoryblog Tintin is the classic Belgian comic book about a young reporter, his dog and his bearded drunken sailor pal. Georges "Herge" Remi, the artist who created Tintin, is difficult to pigeonhole on the racism spectrum.

On one hand, he was arrested four times on suspicion of being a Nazi sympathizer. On the other hand, he worked to change the portrayal of Asian people in European fiction from inscrutable and evil lemon-colored quasi humanoids to, you know, people. On the hypothetical third hand, he wrote this book. This scene probably won't make it into the Spielberg movie. The Racism: On Tintin's journey to the Congo, all of the black people he meets are drawn to look like they're about to take the stage in the most offensive minstrel show ever put on. The Congo in Georges Remi's mind is populated infantile and naive imbeciles who are seemingly designed only to prove that condescension has an equivalent to blind hatred. Tintin and his traveling partner don't mistreat the natives. They find their attempts to build a country adorable, like a chimp that's learned to eat with a knife and fork. It's worth noting here that Tintin isn't nearly as condescending as his traveling partner, a talking dog. thefilmbrief That's pretty judgmental for an animal that regularly eats poop. Herge's portrayal of the Belgian Congo feels more like something out of Dr.

Seuss than the famously realistic and "well researched" worlds that Tintin's adventures typically took him through. In one scene, Tintin is driving his car when it's hit by a Congolese train. Of course the car, made by white men, is left completely unscathed, and the train is derailed. It's like a Shel Silverstein poem about how, if you believe hard enough, racism defies physics. traderreadingorder "See, Snowy? Black people have a higher center of gravity because of all the smug they keep up in there." In the comic -- which was published 30 years after Joseph Conrad published Heart of Darkness -- the Congolese people practically drop to their knees and begin worshiping their honky masters, thankful for their presence in the Congo. hist106-2009spring Tragically, five minutes later Tintin is burned for witchcraft. Unfortunately, this was a pretty accurate depiction of how Belgian people viewed their role in the Congo, which they began developing with a "humanitarian assembly" called the African International Association, one of the rare humanitarian assemblies now studied by something called genocide scholars .

Belgians were outraged that Tintin made his dog walk. 3 science.sut Narnia has gained a second life as an alternative to Harry Potter for unreasonably offended Christian people. Scholars have always pointed to the heroic lion, Aslan, as a pretty ham-fisted Christ metaphor. Aside from that, the first handful of Narnia books (the ones that have movies so far) steer clear of any real-world implications. They take place in the northern regions of a world comprised mostly of white people, talking animals, extremely white people, centaurs, the aforementioned Jesus lion and a special cameo by Guerrilla Santa Claus. The only things you might pick up from that is that old white women are evil and that lions are much friendlier than they really are. "I know when you are sleeping ... and I've got a knife. Remember that." But all of that changes when C.S. Lewis decided to take us to the southern realms of Narnia in the fifth book, The Horse and His Boy. The titular boy is Shasta, and when he finds out that his adoptive dad is planning to sell him into slavery, he packs his stuff and runs away.

The Racism: The people of the south, including Shasta's adoptive father, are a dark-skinned people known as Calormenes. How do they differ from the cast of characters we meet up north? Well, the Calormenes live in the desert, have long beards, wear turbans and pointy slippers and are ruled by Tarkaans, which some have pointed out is vaguely similar to the Middle Eastern military rulers known as Tarkhans . reprog "Those filthy people plagiarized me. Arabs are notorious liars and ... this isn't helping, is it?" While the Calormenes are very clear stand-ins for Middle Eastern people, their religion focuses on a Satanic figure named Tash who requires human sacrifices. Also, they are all assholes . The first Calormene we meet is trying to sell his own adopted son into slavery, and it doesn't get any better from there. They are all self-centered, traitorous, greedy, cruel and cowardly. Some Lewis apologists like to point out that not all Calormenes are mustache-twirling psychopaths.

The prime example, Aravis, is a princess who runs away from her family, culture and nation with a white boy she just met. The other one is Emmeth, a soldier in The Last Battle who is a firm believer of Tash until he meets him and sees he is really a demon. After that, he accepts Aslan in his heart and is granted entrance to Paradise. narnia.wikia "Woooah, that's my God? No wonder he won't let anyone draw him." So basically, all the Middle Eastern characters are evil jerks except those who abandon their culture and faith. So the best case that can be made for Narnia is that Middle Eastern people aren't inherently evil, they just need to be converted to Christianity. It's the sort of thing that makes you wonder why Muslim people waste all their rage on Muhammad cartoons. Fark Noddy is the main character in a series of children's books about a small wooden toy who lives in Toyland with other toys. His adventures were published from 1949 all the way to 1963. While relatively unknown in the U.S., Noddy books are a huge success in Europe and continue to be great sellers.

It's even a multimedia empire, having spawned eight Noddy-based television shows since 1955, including Make Way for Noddy. A horrible dystopian nightmare. The Racism: Just like the Toy Story series makes room for every different type of doll you might have grown up with, Noddy covered the bases of early 20th century toy boxes, featuring characters such as Mr. Tubby Bear (a Teddy bear), Dinah Doll (a china doll) and the Golliwogs (a family of racist monstrosities). anorak We're gonna have to invent a new kind of disbelieving whistle. To be fair, Enid Blyton, the creator of Noddy, did not invent the idea of Golliwogs. They were based on real minstrel dolls that British children apparently used to pelt with rubber balls for being ugly . The dolls were even adapted into characters by an earlier children's book author, who apparently was also concerned that there might be some confusion about whether British children were racist. wopc Going back in time to punch children in the face might not be the worst use of a time machine.

In the Noddy books, the Golliwogs are portrayed as deceitful assholes who trick Noddy and steal his stuff. In Here Comes Noddy Again, the Golliwogs ask Noddy for help, only to take him into the woods and steal his car and clothes. "This is for centuries of toy box repression!" When a new entry in the Noddy saga was published in 2009, Blyton's granddaughter decided not to include the Golliwogs characters, explaining that "the toys themselves are symbols of an ugly racist period in our history. Suggesting that those toys would steal cars and clothing from white toys is just offensive. We obviously know that now." Oh, sorry, that was actually the voice of reason we were quoting there. Blyton's granddaughter only reluctantly left the toys out because she thought including them would have been "too controversial." 1 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory This book has been featured several times here, mostly because parts of it are nightmare fuel , and also because its writer, Roald Dahl, was some sort of nymphomaniac James Bond . But there are also aspects of the book that don't make Dahl seem like an awesome guy to party with.

You probably remember the Oompa Loompas -- they look like compact clowns and sing creepy songs while getting rid of the corpses of the victims of Willy Wonka's shoddy factory safety standards. If you are wondering what's so racist about them it's because you are only familiar with them from the movies. "Oompa Loompa doompa dee doo, when you're buried in our backyard, no one'll find you!" The Racism: In the original book, the Oompa Loompas don't come from Loompaland -- they come from Central Africa , and they were described as just regular ol' black pygmies and not hippie clown dwarfs. They were relocated to Loompaland and their skin was changed from black to white in the illustrations thanks to growing controversy in the '70s. Get your hands on one of the versions printed before the world came to its goddamn senses, and you'll read about how Willy Wonka simply found a tribe of Africans, enslaved them and used them to replace his regular work force because they were willing to work for chocolate.

And before you complain that they were not slaves because they got paid, we'd remind you that even the worst slave owners fed their slaves a more balanced diet than Mr. Wonka. philnel 1964 Africans, and 1973 Scottish soccer hooligans. Of course, the original treatment of the Oompa Loompas is reminiscent of colonial Europe, when white folks were still able to convince each other that they were doing all the other races a favor by enslaving them. Unfortunately for Dahl apologists, the book was published in 1964, right around the time that the "Hey, everyone thinks black people are funny little animals" argument became a hundred goddamn years too late. ingofincke 1998 punk rockers. As we've pointed out before, Dahl even based some of the ideas from the book on actual events involving real chocolate companies . So Dahl was probably at least partially aware that a lot of the cacao plantation workers in Ivory Coast, the biggest producer of chocolate, were practically enslaved African children. It seems more than a little insensitive of Dahl to give Wonka a bunch of funny little African slaves who happily give away their freedom just to give white kids some chocolate.

But then again, he's never been the most sympathetic guy when it comes to children. "You tried to drink from my giant pool of delicious chocolate? Death by suffocation!" For more racism in popular culture, check out The 9 Most Racist Disney Characters and 8 Racist Ads You Won't Believe Are From the Last Few Years . And stop by LinkSTORM to learn more about tolerance, acceptance, and Ramen Noodles. And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get sexy, sexy jokes sent straight to your news feed. Do you have an idea in mind that would make a great article? Then sign up for our writers workshop ! Do you possess expert skills in image creation and manipulation? Mediocre? Even rudimentary? Are you frightened by MS Paint and simply have a funny idea? You can create an infograpic and you could be on the front page of Cracked.com tomorrow! Oompa-Loompa | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Wiki Share once upon a time Oompa-Loompas are known for their short stature, green hair, orange skin and white lederhosen but after the great recession they dispersed and farted everywhere.

In early editions of the novel, Oompa-Loompas are shown as African pygmies. Following growing controversy and criticism, in later editions of the book, Oompa-Loompas are white skinned and golden haired. Oompa Lompas come from Loompaland, which is a region of Loompa, a small isolated island in the Atlantic Ocean. The Oompa-Loompas would end up being preyed upon or attacked by wicked Whangdoodles, Hornswogglers and Snozzwangers, which also lived there. Willy Wonka ended up inviting them to work at the Factory and get away from their natural predators. In the book, Oompa-Loompas are the only people Willy Wonka will allow to work in his Factory, because of the risk of industrial espionage committed by his candy-making rivals. Oompa-Loompas are only knee-high, with astonishing haircuts , and are paid in their favorite food, cacao beans, which were extremely rare in their island.

Oompa-Loompas insist on maintaining their native clothing: men wear skins, women wear leaves, and children wear nothing (in the 1971 film, the Oompa Loompas wore striped shirts and baggy lederhosen, in the 2005 film, the Oompa Loompas wore tribal clothing in their native Loompaland and typical factory worker uniforms in the factory). In the 1971 film the male Oompa-Loompas are seen working in the factory, in the 2005 film only three female worker, a secretary Mr. Wonka addresses as Doris (when the Great Glass Elevator passes through the administration offices) is seen, though in Quentin Blake's illustrations both male and female Oompa-Loompas are shown rolling away Violet Beauregarde after her transformation into a blueberry. Presumably the females remain in the village seen briefly from the Great Glass Elevator. Oompa Loompas in Red Oompa-Loompas are also mischievous, love practical jokes, singing and are very good at improvising according to Willy Wonka.

As each bad child makes his/her exit, the Oompa-Loompas sing moralising songs accompanied by a drum beat, and tend to speak in rhyme. In the 2005 film production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Johnny Depp , Kenyan - Indian actor Deep Roy played all 165 Oompa Loompas. Deep Roy took pilates and dance classes to prepare for the role. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory | Teaching Ideas Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Age Range: 5 - 11 Buy this book For the first time in a decade, Willy Wonka, the reclusive and eccentric chocolate maker, is opening his doors to the public--well, five members of the public, actually. The lucky five who find a Golden Ticket in their Wonka bars will receive a private tour of the factory, given by Mr Wonka himself. For young Charlie Bucket, this a dream come true. Book Author: Roald Dahl Retell the story from the point of view of one of the other children. Retell the story from the point of view of an Oompa Loompa. Write a letter from each of the children to Mr. Wonka after their visit to the factory.

Write a newspaper article which gives information about the day of the visit to the factory. Imagine that the was one more ticket available and a new child found it. What are they like? How do they feel about visiting the chocolate factory? Look at the illustration of Charlie's house. Can you think of words to describe it? Could you write a paragraph, or more, about it? How is it similar / different to your house? Imagine that Charlie kept a diary. Write about the days leading up to his discovery of the golden ticket. Write about the days after his trip to the factory. Charlie's grandparents were 'as shrivelled as prunes' and 'as bony as skeletons'. Can you think of other similes to describe things? Spies used to steal Willy Wonka's recipes. Write a top secret report from a spy about what they have seen inside the factory. Roald Dahl uses words like 'repulsive' and 'repulsive' to describe the Gloop family. Can you think of any other similar adjectives? Can you think of more positive adjectives? Can you perform some of the scenes in the story as a drama activity, e.g.

When Charlie buys a chocolate bar using the coin that he has found, When he goes to tell his family about the ticket, When Willy Wonka gives Charlie the factory. Make up names for some of Wonka's newest chocolate bars, using the old names as a starting point for ideas. Read the play adaptation of the book and perform it to others. Use it to learn about play scripts and how they are presented. There is 'complete pandemonium' in Charlie's house when he finds the golden ticket. What does this mean? Write a biography for Willy Wonka? Where was he born? What was his life like when he was growing up? What amazing adventures has he had throughout his life? Create a storyboard which shows different scenes from the book, e.g. Mr. Wonka greeting the children when they first arrive at the factory, the exploration of the chocolate room, travelling in the great glass lift. Willy Wonka warns the children not to get lost when they first enter the Chocolate Factory. Imagine that one of them does wander off where they shouldn't. What might they discover? Everything is made of sweets and chocolate in the Chocolate Room. Imagine that your classroom is made of similar things and describe what it is like.

The Oompa Loompa use words like 'gorge', 'guzzle', 'feed' and 'feast' in their songs to describe one of the children eating. Can you think of any other synonyms? Identify rhyming words in the Oompa Loompa's songs. Can you find more words that rhyme with these? Could you make a rhyming dictionary? Imagine that you were given a stick of Willy Wonka's chewing-gum meal. Write some sentences / paragraphs to describe how it tastes and how the delicious flavours change as you chew it. Compare the illustrations of the children arriving at and leaving the factory. How have the children changed? Look at these two trailers for the film versions of the book. How are they similar / different? Which portrayal of the film do you prefer? Why? Think of words and phrases to describe chocolate and sweets. Look at pictures for inspiration?(see Resources below). Use the comprehension sheets contributed by Jonathan Gray (see Resources below). Find out about the stage version of the book. Could you produce your own performance? You can also download a set of free resources linked to the stage production here . Maths Look at a selection of chocolate bars and sweet packets.

Find out how much they weigh. Put the items in order, from the lightest to the heaviest. Make a list of chocolate bars and their prices. Can you make some word problems using this information? Find a recipe for making a chocolate cake. Can you use ratio to work out the ingredients needed for different numbers of people? Grandpa Joe offers Charlie a silver sixpence that he has been hiding. Can you investigate pre-decimal currency and find out how it differs from current denominations? Charlie finds a 50p coin in the street. Find out what can be bought with just 50p. Explore how many fifty pence coins would be needed to buy certain items (e.g. a toothbrush, a magazine, a television). Science Charlie walks past the chocolate factory every day and smells the delicious chocolate. Later, he goes on to taste some of the delicious treats. Use this as a starting point for learning about different senses. Prince Pondicherry wanted a palace made of chocolate. Discuss why chocolate might not be a very good building material. If someone was given a lifetime supply of chocolate (like the children in the story), what might be the effect on their body?

Willy Wonka 'invented a way of making chocolate ice cream so that it stays cold for hours and hours without being in the refrigerator.' Could you investigate the best insulators to keep a pack of chocolate ice cream cold? Charlie's house has 'little jets of freezing air' rushing through it. Investigate how houses are insulated to keep them warm and to save energy. Learn how chocolate is made. Mike Teavee has to be given vitamins to fatten him up after he is shrunk. Find out what vitamins do to our bodies. What effects to different vitamins have? Design Technology Watch this video about the creation of the 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' ride at Alton Towers. Could you design your own ride linked to the book? Could you make a prototype? Design a machine to help Mr. Bucket screw toothpaste caps on more quickly. Design a new boat / craft which travels along the chocolate river. Look at examples of different chocolate bars and sweets? Can you design your own chocolate bar and packaging? Art Design a golden ticket to be hidden inside a chocolate bar. Draw pictures of the different expressions on Charlie's face at various points in the story, e.g.

When he opens his birthday chocolate bar and doesn't find a golden ticket, when he finds the 50p in the street, when he meets Mr. Wonka for the first time? When Willy Wonka describes Loompaland, he explains that it has 'thick jungles infested by the most dangerous beasts in the world - hornswogglers and snozzwangers and those terrible wicked whangdoodles.' Could you create a new creature from Loompaland? Could you add labels to show its different features? Draw a picture of the Inventing Room in the chocolate factory. What happens inside there? Design some lickable wallpaper for your bedroom. What would it have on it? Music The Oompa Loompas make up lots of songs throughout the story. Could you compose a tune for some of their songs? Could you make up new lyrics to describe another of the events in the story? Listen to this soundtrack to the 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' ride at Alton Towers. Could you compose your own soundtrack for a film / ride about the book? Geography Find out where the ingredients of a chocolate bar come from. Could you plot these on a map? Research chocolate factories around the world.

Could you visit some of them, e.g. Cadbury World. Make a map of the chocolate factory showing the different rooms described in the book. Imagine that you could be sent anywhere in the world by TV. Where would you like to travel to? Why would you like to go there? How else could you travel there and how long would it take?

Question: In which children's book would you find the Oompa-Loompas?
Answer: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory